12/08/2005

When you go to Al's meeting you know you're going to get a meal worthy of a homebrewer. There were 3 huge beef pot pies with Ceasar salad, bread and brownies as rich as, as.... a 1st place oatmeal stout which just happened to be there. We also sampled a 5th oatmeal stout and Hogie's Holiday Ale. Hogie also brought along a couple of barleywines to sample which seemed to curtail the consumption of the Celebration Ale which in the long run helped Al get through his first December at the Retail Unit. Cheers.

  Treasurers report shows that after a lot of debt paying to the club and some paying from the club we have around $xxx.xx in checking and $xx.xx in savings. Some of the paying part was for engraving the Stout Bout trophy and for medals Mike G. took the liberty of purchasing. The medals are to be awarded to the winners of the Stout Bout 2005 and the IPA Cup and Stout Bout for 2006. All this medal stuff was motioned, seconded and voted on.

  Seeing as how Mike G. has the floor he rolled out his choice for Stout Bout 2006. It will be a Chocolate Raspberry Stout. I can smell that chocolate raspberry already. Glenda, get out those cookies! Everyone will start with the same basic recipe, 6 lbs. of malt extract, 1 oz. No. Brewer hops and 1084 Irish ale yeast. Beyond the aforementioned you can tweak to your hearts content. You can flavor with fruit or fruit extract, add grains if you wish or what have you. You must present beer in 12 oz. brown bottles at least 24 hours prior to the event.

  Charlie!!!??? What's the IPA for the 06 IPA Cup?

  A discussion about election of club officers started a couple of times. The gist so far was that it never happens in November as stated in the by-laws. Probably something to do with the Stout Bout. Dave said we usually wake up at Al's meeting to pick officers anyway. The meeting schedule for 2006 was pretty much decided too. Those vertical flights of barleywine seen to disrupt the proceedings from time to time.

  Hogie has provided a few beer fests to get you started in the right direction for 06. For those not afraid to travel, there's the Alaskan Barleywine Fest on Jan 13-14. A Beer Summit, Winter Jubilee, will be at CAstle in Boston on Jan. 21st-2 sessions and the Extreme Fest at the Cyclorama in Boston is Feb. 11th-2 sessions.

  I am in the process of updating our members list. I'll make any changes necessary at the Jan. meeting. I would like to include cell phone numbers along with land line numbers if you wish.

  The January meeting will be on the 12th @ 5ish at Mike M. Come prepared to discuss beer and how it relates to food such as slim jims, pickled eggs, pork rinds and jalapeno tortilla chips. Homebrew to be provided by Hogie and Al. Note to Chuck; A smattering of Full Sail Old Boardhead will be offered.